Tag: Josephus

Every few weeks, Simcha Jacobovici broadcasts a programme entitled the ‘Naked Archaeologist’ on Israel TV. He scours archaeological sites to bring sensational results to the viewers, uses material provided by professional scholars, and brings together different artifacts to try and explain problems of the early history of Israel. His programmes are not recognized as serious by professional archaeologists but they are attractive to laymen and sometimes bring unusual content to the public. One of his latest works was to try and recreate the faces of Biblical characters by using the work of professional forensic artists on skulls dug up from known contexts and with known dates. In his latest programme he displays the face of a beautiful lady whom he equates with Delilah, based on the skull of a Philistine female from the time of Samson; a male from the turn-of-the era Galilee, whom he claims may have seen Jesus; and a baby whose remains were found in a Canaanite jar burial, possible evidence of infant sacrifice. Jacobovici, an Israeli-Canadian, says that his illustration of these figures helps viewers to understand better the Biblical contexts from which they come. This is hardly serious archaeology but his programmes do give some shaky substance to the accounts in the Bible. They are condemned by most serious scholars but one has to recognise that the public appreciates them.

Jerusalem Cistern with Remains of Cooking Pots

Near Robinson’s arch by the Western Wall of the Temple, Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has uncovered a small underground cistern with the unusual content of two cooking pots and a small oil lamp, dated to the time of the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE. He claims that this is evidence that the eating of meals took place in the cistern, where it would be hidden from view by others. It would thus illustrate the fact, recorded by Josephus, that during the Siege the extreme scarcity of food forced the inhabitants to eat their precious produce in secret, so as to avoid it being stolen by the rebels and partisans. He recorded that the people ate their meals shut up in “the darkest corners of their houses” and Shukron believes that the finding of two cooking pots in this small cistern is evidence of such extreme practice.

Roman Period Roadway in Northern Jerusalem

In the course of a salvage dig prior to the laying of a drainage pipe in Beit Hanina, a village just north of the Jerusalem city border, the IAA has uncovered the remains of the Roman road from Jerusalem to Jaffa. The roadway was 8m. wide and laid with large level paving slabs, that showed evidence of heavy wear bypedestrians. It is the best preserved section of Roman roadway in the Jerusalem area, according to David Yeger, the dig director.

The section uncovered was part of the road that ran through Beit Horon (there was another parallel road further south) and was still in use during the Talmudic period.

Carmel Mountains Cave, Grave Flowers

The earliest ever evidence of flowers used at a graveside was found at the Rakefet Cave on Mount Carmel, dating to the Natufian period between 12,000 and 14,000 years ago. The expedition, headed by Dani Nadel of Haifa University, uncovered 29 human skeletons and in some of the tombs they found the marks of flowers pressed onto the rock surface. Nadel claims that they have been able to identify the floral species in at least two of the plants, but gave no details.

Egyptian Sphinx at Hazor

During the ongoing excavations at Hazor, in northern Israel, the fore section of a royal sphinx has been uncovered. The large fragment is the front part of the sculpture, showing no head but the two front paws with, luckily, an inscription between them indicating that this was the image of Pharaoh Menkauree, also known as Mycerinus (2532-2504 BCE), whose name is associated with the small one of the three Giza pyramids. The co-directors of the excavation, Prof. Amnon ben-Tor and Dr. Sharon Zuckerman, say that it is the only known sphinx of this Pharaoh ever discovered. The whole unbroken body would have been about 1.5 m. long and they think it was sent to Hazor in the 14th century BCE in the Amarna period, as some kind of goodwill gesture, at a time when Egypt held hegemony over the area.

Inscribed Canaanite Pottery Shard, Jerusalem

In what is claimed as the earliest-ever inscribed shard found in Jerusalem, an early Canaanite line of text of the tenth century BCE has been found on the broken piece of a neckless pithos or jar, recently unearthed in a dig by the southern wall of the Temple Mount, The excavators think that the short one-line text, as yet undeciphered, gives the name of the jar’s owner or its contents. Watch this space.

On 18th January a ceremony was held to mark the re-opening of the site on the River Jordan where John the Baptist is supposed to have baptised Jesus. It had been closed for over forty years as a military zone and has now been released by the army and renovated by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority who have improved access for pilgrims and tourists. The site is known in Arabic as Qasr al-Yehud (Castle of the Jew) and pilgrims can enter it from both the Israeli and Jordanian side, though crossing between them is not possible as it is fenced off mid-river to mark the boundary between the two countries.

The ceremony, marking also the Feast of the Epiphany, was led by Theophilos III, Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, and was attended by an estimated 15,000 pilgrims, most of whom watched the ceremony on screens while the lucky few got to immerse themselves in the river in white cloaks.

The site is also deemed by some to represent the place where the Children of Israel are said to have crossed into Canaan by the fords, under the leadership of Joshua.

The Passing of Vendyl Jones

Vendyl Jones, who was said to have spent much of his life looking for the Ark of the Covenant, passed away in late December 2010. He had been a pastor in the Baptist Church and was drawn to Jewish texts and practices by his reading of the Bible, so much so that he called himself a Noahide, that is, one who keeps the seven Jewish commandments for Gentiles. In 1964 he came across literature on the Copper Scroll and started searching for the treasures of the Temple. His fame rested on his identity with the “Indiana Jones” played by Harrison Ford, but Vendyl denied the connection. In Israel his enduring image was photographs of him in the press digging in the soil with a trowel in one hand and the Bible in the other. He claimed to have found samples of the “ketoret” incense used in the Temple. It was a reddish powder and was confirmed by tests at the Weizmann Institute, though disputed by other scholars.

Drainage Channel and Street of Ancient Jerusalem

After the work of seven years, the surface water drain from near the Temple Mount to the Pool of Siloam has been cleared and will shortly be opened to tourists. The work has been conducted by Prof. Ronny Reich and Eli Shukron for the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and has opened up a stepped street above the channel that goes back to the early Roman period. Remnants of pottery and other domestic waste suggest that the channel, which is from 1m. to 2m. high under the street, was used by refugees escaping from the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 CE. Josephus carries a vivid account of the Roman forces searching for the escapees, enslaving some and killing others.

Parts of the tunnel had already been uncovered by Charles Warren, at the Western Wall end, and by Bliss and Dickie at the Siloam end, but this is the first time that it has been possible to see the two ends as one continuous passageway and sewer. The present section runs for 600 metres and it is presumed that it extends further northwards for an equal amount to the Damascus Gate.

Jerusalem Leper Hospital to be Arts Centre

The former Hansen Hospital, named after the doctor who isolated the germ that caused leprosy, is to be renovated as the City centre for the visual arts. It stands on a large piece of ground opposite the Jerusalem Theatre in the prosperous Talbiyeh neighbourhood. It is a pleasant three-storey structure with balconies around a central courtyard and its interest to archaeologists is that it was built in 1887 by the German architect Conrad Schick (1822-1901), who came to the city as a missionary and died there as an early explorer and archaeologist. He is known as the builder of models of the Temple Mount and the surveyor of maps of Jerusalem. It was a set of his pupils who first saw and drew his attention to the Siloam Inscription in the water tunnel. As an architect he was responsible for the layout of one of the early neighbourhoods outside the old City, the Mea Shearim housing complex, now largely inhabited by members of the ultra-orthodox Jewish community. One wonders if they realize that their homes were planned and built by a former Christian missionary.

Byzantine Church in the Judaean Hills

Due to the discovery of illegal plunder from the site, the chief IAA investigator of archeological theft, Amir Ganor, started a dig at the ruins of Hirbet Madras, south-west of Jerusalem and just north of Beit Guvrin, where he uncovered the floor of a 6th Cent. CE structure that was thought to be a synagogue but, thanks to many stones carved with crosses, is now seen to have been a church. It has a magnificent mosaic floor of geometric patterns that incorporate representations of lions, foxes, peacocks and fish. The church is built over another structure, probably five centuries earlier, of the early Roman period, that might have been a village synagogue. There are also underground tunnels alongside, that may have served as hiding places for the Jews during the Bar-Kochba Revolt (132-135 CE), as found at Beit Guvrin nearby. Steps from the church lead down into a small burial cave that the excavators think was considered to be the holy resting place of the Prophet Zechariah, but the reasons for this are obscure.

The site, which is now on an isolated hilltop, will be covered over again, until plans and funding become available to secure it and open it to the public.